Lead and Trace Elements Concentration of Road Side Soil in Khartoum State

Abstract

Abstract The rapid increase in the vehicle numbers since 1950 have received a great attention for vehicle's exhaust emission as a source of both air and soil pollution as a result of using leaded petrol fuel in their engines. Soil samples were collected from two di erent areas in Khartoum (Al-Neil Street) and Omdurman (Abu-rof street). The sample were analyzed by means of Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence (EDXRF) technique. The main aim of this study is to determine the lead concentration in soil near road sides due to auto- mobile emission in addition to make a comparison between lead levels concentrations in Khartoum and Omdurman cities. The observations of the data obtained for Lead concen- trations in the roadside were statistically analyzed. Comparison was made between the lead level concentrations in Khartoum and Omdurman. The lead concentrations in the roadside were found to increase in the direction of the denser tra c at the entrance of bridges. High level of lead concentrations were observed in the region between Mac Nimir bridge and White Nile bridge which constitute a dan- gerous health hazard. The lead risk along the two roads is consider medium compared to recommendations by the EPA except for a very small number of samples where lead risk was very high. The statistical analysis for the obtained results showed a correlation between lead and copper. The observations showed that Fe has a highest concentration through all elements presented in the sample then comes, Ca, Cu,Ti, and Pb respectively. The concentration of lead in Khartoum city is more than that of Omdurman city. Our results suggest that further studies are needed for vehicles exhaust emmisions and their impacts.